YMMV / The Bridegroom

• Awesome Music: When composer Eivind Groven got inspired by the book and made a complete six part work of it, including a full orchestra, a choir and four solo singers. The music is both a powerful Tear Jerker and are partly Nightmare Fuel as well as CMOA.
• Reality Subtext: The author had a Creator Breakdown in 1926 after the death of fellow author Hans Kinck, with whom she was smitten, and also heavily influenced by. She got physically ill, and had to write herself out of the depression. This book is the result of this healing process, arguably casting the other author in the role of the fiddler, and herself as Elise. The most powerful message to send comes with the fairies, prepping Elise in a full bridal gear before they leave, telling her: "You shall sit prepared as a bride until the light goes out" - i.e. until death. The author never married, of course.
• Tear Jerker: The last part of the book is quite powerful on this. The Reality Subtext explains a lot of it.
• Nightmare Fuel: A brilliant example. The descriptions of horror, darkness, desolation and madness is quite outstanding. When the second edition came to print, it was illustrated - increasing the Nightmare Fuel manyfold. Some of those drawings are downright scary.
• The Woobie: Elise, of course. Losing everyone she loves, and succumbing to the plague at the end qualifies.
• Write What You Know: The author´s home area serves as a setting for the novel, with at least two names thrown in. Gravvika (Graveyard Bay) is to be found straight down from the local church, as in this novel. For that matter - the author´s great-grandmother was known for her knowledge of herbs, as is Elise´s.